Stuff I Read: A Sh*tload of Crazy Powers by Jackson Ford

After another run-in with superpowered people—a kid who can control lightning and a man who can make you hallucinate—leaves the China Shop team down two more members, A US senator who’s aware of the team’s unique nature seeks to make practical use of the asset that is Teagan Frost. But after a meeting with ghosts from her past that has her spend a couple of days in jail, the girl who could move shit with her mind… well, can’t. Shit’s gonna hit the fan in Jackson Ford’s 2022 entry in the Frost Files series, A Sh*tload of Crazy Powers.

This one is a little crazy, so here’s a MILD SPOILER ALERT. Just because I like you.

A Sh*tload of Crazy Powers by Jackson Ford

A Sh*tload of Crazy Powers starts where Eye of the Sh*t Storm left off: Teagan visiting Annie in the hospital after the latter is comatose from a lightning strike near the end of the previous book. While there, she’s visited by the Zigzag Man and a mysterious woman, who refers to her by her given name, Emily Jameson. Teagan quickly recognizes the woman and the Zigzag Man as her sister, Chloe, and her brother Adam—both thought dead in the fire that killed their parents decades prior. An attempted kidnapping leads to a superpowered fight and car chase, after which Teagan gets arrested and is in jail for a couple of days. Meanwhile, in the wake of the prior events, the China Shop is restructured, with Idriss “Africa” Kouame, the driver and muscle, being promoted to interim field leader. The previous leader, Reggie McCormack, found herself dismissed after the debacle from the night before that left Annie in the hospital and a superpowered child in the hands of an unknown enemy. After Teagan gets sprung from the clink by the team’s handler, Moira Tanner, the Shop is contracted for protection duty. An influential US Senator, aware of Teagan’s abilities and eager to see them in action, needs security at a very public event, and the China Shop is volun-told to be there. Unbeknownst to everyone except Teagan, though, the fight with Chloe and Adam have somehow removed her abilities, making her unable to fight when the event is hijacked by terrorists. With a skeleton crew of team at her side and no psychokinetic abilities, Teagan is going to have to rely on guts and smarts to get out this one.

Jackson Ford’s lates Teagan Frost adventure dovetails seamlessly out of the last one. I read them both consecutively, over the course of a couple of days, and it felt like two parts of the same book. I’ve commented on the main character’s impressive long-term development over the course of the series, and A Sh*tload of Crazy Powers is no exception. She laments the loss of her powers—abilities she had previously cursed for ruining a shot at a normal life—as the loss of her identity. Thematically, the idea of embracing the parts of yourself that you don’t like as part of your continued growth and evolution has been prevalent throughout her entire character arc, and it has made her grow from a whiny kid of some privilege to nearly a fully-formed adult. Along the way, she’s picked up a few tricks and resources, as the connections she’s made over the course of the series help her outsmart and avoid a hotel full of terrorists without her powers. It’s highly entertaining stuff.

The downside is that Chloe and Adam, who make a case to be the series overarching villains, are relegated to the “B” plot, attended to by Annie (who makes a miraculously quick recovery from injury) and Nic Delacourt, Teagan’s on-again, off-again love interest. While I admit that it’s fun to watch them engage in a Beverly Hills Cop-style buddy-comedy, complete with the infiltration of the villains’ hillside compound, this plot wastes the potential of everyone involved. Chloe and Adam are the series two most powerful superhumans thus far, and their absence from the part of the story that directly involves Teagan diminishes their threat. It’s a particular shame, because we got a glimpse of Adam’s terrifying potential in Eye of the Sh*t Storm. The story is still highly entertaining, though, especially as it skydives into its exhilarating climax in the third act.

A Sh*tload of Crazy Powers is another solid entry in Jackson Ford’s consistently entertaining Frost Files series. It has left me eager to see what the China Shop breaks in their next adventure as they combat shadowy organizations and more people with bizarre superpowers.

Pros: Impressive character growth for the main character; stakes feel high due to the ever-changing status quo removing plot armor for several characters

Cons: Misuses a couple of compelling villains.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars.